Thank You
by suchaphangirl
Summary: Dan is homeless, until Phil and his family find him living in an abandoned house. Phil wants to help Dan and they become friends.


It's been a year. That's how long 20-year-old Dan Howell had been homeless.

Dan ran away from home when he was 19-years-old. He had finally come out to his family. He had felt confident and was so sure that his family would be supportive of him. But, oh how wrong he was. His brother didn't really care that he was gay. His mother said she still loved him even though Dan could tell by the look on her face that she was disappointed. His father… well, he wasn't happy at all. In fact, Dan was abused for weeks by his father after he came out. It had gotten to the point where Dan stayed out all night, just to get away from his family.

That's why Dan ran away in the first. Because of his so-called family.

Dan had a job when he ran away. He kept the job long enough until he had enough money that would keep him going. Then Dan quit the job because he worked at a store where his family often went to.

After Dan ran away, his family didn't even bother looking for him. That hurt Dan.

Now he was living in an abandoned house. It wasn't much, but Dan called it home. It kept him safe from strangers and kept him warm when the weather was bad. No one ever visited this house so Dan called it his. Even though it was completely empty. He didn't care. The only problem… was that Dan was starving.

It had been four days since Dan had eaten something. Four whole days. Dan felt hopeless.

It was a Friday afternoon when Phil Lester was taking his parents to the house where Dan was staying at. His family was planning on renovating it. It wasn't old so it was capable of becoming something new.

"I found it last weekend while I was out walking…" Phil told his dad as they walked up to the house.

"It's actually quite a cute house," Phil's mother said as she followed them.

"I looked around. It seems abandoned. I asked around and people said nobody has lived there for years. The neighbors said we could do whatever we wanted with it," Phil explained.

"I'm glad you bothered to ask the neighbors before we actually started planning," Phil's dad said.

"It's the polite thing to do. Come on, let's go look around!" Phil said excitedly. He ran into the house. "The house is so big. We could turn it into a restaurant or something! Maybe a hotel even!"

"Let's not get too big Phil," Adam, Phil's dad, said. He chuckled as he watched his son.

"Or maybe we can just turn it into a house for me when I move out," Phil said. He smiled innocently.

"That could work," Adam said. He sighed as he looked around. Both Adam and Phil looked up as soon as they heard a scream from Phil's mum. Adam and Phil looked at each other before they took off. They ran into what they assumed to be the living room, where Phil's mum was at. "Emily, what on Earth is going on?" Adam asked.

"I thought you said this house was abandoned, Phil?!" Emily, Phil's mum, asked.

Phil looked over and was just as shocked as his parents were when he saw a boy who seemed to be about his age, maybe a little younger… sitting on the floor, clutching a blanket. The boy was staring at them with wide eyes. Phil had never seen the boy before. He's been to the house twice and never once saw him. Phil took a deep breath as he stared at the boy. He carefully started walking towards him but stopped as he watched the boy scoot backwards. Phil frowned when he saw how terrified the boy was.

"We're not going to hurt you," Phil said calmly. He bent down so he could see the boy better.

Adam and Emily looked at each other, both surprised at their son.

"Phil, maybe we shouldn't… we'll call the police or something," Adam said.

Phil looked over at him. "Dad, what if he needs help? He's pale. He could be sick. We can't call the police," he said.

"Then we'll take him to the hospital," Adam snapped.

Phil rolled his eyes and then he looked back at the boy. "Are you? Are you sick? Do you need any help?" He asked.

"I… I don't need help," Dan said quietly. "I-If you w-want me to leave then just say so. I'll go f-find somewhere else to stay." He stuttered. He reached over and grabbed his bag, which had his clothes in. Phil stood up as Dan did.

"Wait, don't go. Do you live here?" Phil asked curiously.

"I have been for a couple of months," Dan told him.

"I don't mean to sound rude or anything… but, are you homeless?" Phil asked. He frowned when Dan didn't say anything, which Phil knew that he was. He looked over at his mum and dad. "We have to help him."

"What can we do Philip? How do we help him? We don't know anything about him," Emily said.

"We'll take him to the hospital, just like dad said. He needs help. Look how skinny he is," Phil said.

Adam sighed. "Phil's right. We should help him. Phil, help him get in the car. I'll call the hospital and let them know we're on our way," he said. He turned and walked out of the room, followed by Emily.

Phil bit his lip as he looked over at Dan. He walked over to him and held out his hand.

Dan stared at it. He didn't move a muscle, he was too afraid.

"Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise," Phil told him.

"W-Why are you h-helping me?" Dan asked. He coughed a few times.

"Because, I want to help you. Sometimes people do nice things because they want to be nice. There doesn't have to be a reason. Can you trust me?" Phil asked. "I'm Phil, by the way," he quickly added.

Dan looked up at him with sadness in his eyes. He nervously reached out and took Phil's hand.

"Your hands are freezing," Phil said when he felt Dan's hand.

Dan quickly pulled his hand back, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"No, don't do that. Give me your hand, please…" Phil said, holding his hand out again. He sighed in relief when Dan took his hand again. Phil held onto Dan's hand, making sure that he was being careful. Hurting this boy was the last thing Phil wanted to do. Phil wanted to gain his trust. He wanted to help this boy and help him get better. Phil didn't know what this boy had been through… but he could tell that he had been through a lot.

"You're fine. Follow me," Phil told the boy, who he still didn't know the name of. Phil led the way out of the house and they walked over to the car, where Phil's mum and dad were at. Phil opened the car door and let Dan step into the car. Once he was in, Phil shut the door. He took a deep breath and then he walked over to the other side of the car and also got in. He looked over at the other boy and frowned when he saw how scared he was.

"The hospital knows we're coming with… what's his name?" Adam asked.

"He wouldn't tell me. I don't know," Phil said. He looked over at Dan again.

Dan nervously looked down at his hands. This was too weird for him, and a little scary. Dan hadn't talked to anybody in probably weeks, even months. Nobody wanted anything to do with him.

"Honey, we'll need to know your name," Emily said.

"Dan," Dan said quietly, loud enough for only Phil to hear.

"His name his Dan, he said," Phil told his dad.

The Lester's had finally arrived at the hospital with Dan. Dan was staying close to Phil as they walked in, which made Phil feel like Dan trusted him, which was all he wanted. He wanted and needed Dan to be able to trust him or else he wouldn't be able to help him. Phil gently wrapped his arm around Dan as they walked up to the desk.

"We're here to drop off of patient," Adam said to the nurse at the desk.

"What's the name of your patient?" The nurse asked.

"We already called to let them know we're coming. We're here with Dan um…"

"We need the last name, sir," The nurse said.

Adam looked over at Dan. "Dan, we'll need your full name…"

"Daniel Howell," Dan told him. He took a deep breath. It was hard for him to even talk. The past few nights have been colder than usual, and it didn't really help that there weren't any windows in the house that Dan was staying in. All Dan had was his blanket that he had gotten from home and it barely helped.

"Howell? That name sounds familiar," Adam said. He shook his head. "Daniel Howell."

"Oh, okay. You're with the homeless boy? I'll get a doctor with you immediately. You can go wait in the waiting room. It should only take a few minutes. We'll be right with you," The nurse said.

"Thank you very much," Adam said. He turned and then he led the way into the waiting room.

Phil took Dan over to one of the chairs and sat him down. Phil sat down next to him but had let go of him.

Dan almost immediately started shivering once Phil let go of him. Phil looked over at Dan and frowned as he watched him. "You're shaking, Dan…" He said. He grabbed the blanket that Dan was holding and wrapped it around him. "I know you must be scared but, you're going to be fine. I promise the doctors are only going to help you," Phil told him. He smiled when Dan looked at him. "And I won't leave your side."

Less than 10 minutes later; the doctor finally came out and called Dan's name.

"Philip, why don't you go with Dan? He seems to have taken a liking to you anyways," Emily said.

"Come on Dan," Phil said. He helped Dan stand up and they walked over to the doctor.

Dan was immediately taken back to a room with Phil. Dan was now lying on one of the beds. Dan hasn't had proper contact with any human for almost a year. This was almost strange to him. He forgot that there were some nice people out there, people like Phil. He couldn't believe that Phil wanted to help him.

"You found him homeless, am I correct?" The doctor asked Phil.

"Yeah, we were looking at an abandoned house that we were planning renovating, me and my family… mum found him and I took one look at him and knew that we needed to help him," Phil said.

"You did the right thing of bringing him to the hospital," The doctor said. "Now, Daniel…"

"Dan," Dan said quietly, quickly correcting him though.

"Alright, Dan… how old are you?" The doctor asked.

Dan bit his lip nervously as he stared at the doctor.

"Dan, he's only going to help you. Don't be afraid," Phil assured him.

"I-I am 22," Dan told him. He took a deep breath, coughing a little afterwards.

"You're a bit young to be homeless like this," The doctor said.

"I had my reasons to run away. You would have done the same if you were in my position," Dan mumbled.

"Would you like to tell me why you ran away?" The doctor asked calmly.

"That's personal," Dan said. He looked down at his hands.

"Well, Dan… you do seem to be sick, that cough sounds pretty bad… so we'll run a few tests to find out what's going on. It looks like you're going to be here a while so make yourself comfortable. I'll be back in a few minutes," The doctor said before he walked out of the room without saying another word.

It's been a couple hours now since Dan had been at the hospital. Dan found out that he did have a bad case of the flu, due to being out in the cold for weeks. But luckily, the doctor was going to give him some medicine so that he would get better. Unfortunately, this meant that Dan would have to stay in the hospital, as he didn't have a home.

"Do I really have to stay in the hospital?" Dan asked as he looked at Phil.

"I'm really sorry Dan. I already tried to ask my parent's but they don't think it's a good idea. They don't want to get sick. But, they did say that once you get better… you can stay in the guest bedroom until you figure out what you're going to do afterwards. Mum doesn't want you staying in that house anymore. It's not exactly the best place to stay. No wonder why you're so sick. But, I'm sure you'll get better in no time." Phil assured him.

"Thank you Phil. This really means a lot to me. No one else would have wanted to help me," Dan told him.

"I wasn't about to leave you there all by yourself," Phil said. He smiled as he looked down at Dan. "So, how come you ran away from home? What happened that was so bad that you had to run away?" He asked curiously.

"It's really hard for me to talk about…" Dan began to say. Dan looked over as soon as he heard the door open, and in walked Phil's mum and dad. Dan bit his lip as he stared at him.

"I knew the name Howell sounded familiar. Dan, I was able to contact your parents. Your father works with me…"

"What?!" Dan yelled. His eyes went wide with shock as soon as his parents walked into the room. His mother actually looked worried but his father did not look happy at all. "No! I don't want to see him! Get him out!" Dan yelled as he scooted back. He coughed a few times.

Phil frowned as he looked over at Dan's parents. "Dan, what's going on?" He asked.

"Dan, we've been searching everywhere for you. Where have you been?" Dan's mother, Diane, asked.

"You were not looking for me," Dan said as his eyes began to water up.

"Don't speak to your mother like that Daniel," Dan's father, John, warned.

"She's _not_ my mother. A mother wouldn't allow her child's father to beat him just because he's gay!" Dan yelled angrily as a few tears fell out of his eyes. He took deep breaths.

Phil's eyes went wide with shock. "Is that why you ran away?" He asked.

"I guess I don't blame Dan for running away," Emily said as she looked over at Dan's parent's.

"You would let your son ruin his life like that?" John asked.

"Dan didn't ruin his life. It seems like you did," Emily said.

Dan stared at his hands as tears poured out of his eyes. He didn't dare look up at his mother or father.

"Well, it seems like Dan doesn't want to see you," Phil said.

John scoffed. "What a pathetic excuse for a son," he mumbled. He turned around and stormed out of the room.

"Dan, I…" Diane began to say. She took a deep breath as she stared at Dan. "I'll talk to your father. I know it's not much but… you should know that I have been looking for you. I'm just glad that you're okay." She turned around and then she walked out of the room without saying another word.

Dan hid his face as the tears continued to pour out of his eyes.

Two weeks have quickly passed since Dan was in the hospital. Today was finally the day that Dan was leaving the hospital. He was doing much better. He still had a slight cold but the doctors assured him that it would go away within' a couple of days. Dan was thankful to be leaving the hospital and he was thankful that Phil's family was taking him in and letting him stay at their house, in the guest bedroom. He tried to tell them that he could find somewhere else to say but Phil dismissed anything he said. Phil assured Dan that he would be no problem.

"Come on, Phil!" Dan whined as he looked back at Phil, who was taking his time on purpose.

Phil had just picked Dan up from the hospital. Dan had to get his medicine before they could leave. Dan was excited to get out of the hospital. He had been in there for two weeks.

It was a Friday afternoon when Phil had picked Dan up.

"_Phil_!" Dan yelled with annoyance. He ran back over to Phil and then he grabbed his hand. "Come on, I want to go before the sun goes away," he warned as he began to pull Phil.

Phil laughed as he let Dan pull him. "I'm sure the sun isn't going anywhere…"

"We live in London. Are you kidding me? The sun could be gone in five minutes," Dan said.

"Alright, alright…" Phil said. He started walking faster.

Dan and Phil finally made it out of the hospital.

Dan sighed in relief as soon as he felt the sun on his skin. He smiled as he looked around. "The day the sun comes out is the day I actually don't have to live out on the streets," he said. He looked over at Phil.

"Your days of living on the streets are over. That I can promise you," Phil said as he wrapped his arms around Dan.

Dan blushed as he looked over at Phil. Dan and Phil had definitely grown closer, even though they had only known each other for two weeks. Phil visited Dan every single day in the hospital without fail. Dan would tell Phil stories of his year being out on the streets. When Dan broke down, Phil would comfort him.

It was obvious that Dan and Phil liked each other. They just kept it to themselves.

"Are you sure your parent's are okay with me staying at their house?" Dan asked as they walked over to Phil's car.

"My parents are absolutely fine with it. They're pretty excited to have you stay with us. Don't worry anything; our home is your home now." Phil said as he opened the car door for Dan.

"Such a gentlemen," Dan said as he climbed into the car.

Phil laughed. "Thank you," he said as he shut the door.

Dan and Phil had stopped to get something to eat; as Dan was sick of eating hospital food.

20 minutes later; they finally made it to Phil's house.

"Your house is huge," Dan said as they got out of the car.

"My family is pretty wealthy…" Phil said as he looked over at Dan. "I'm not bragging or anything," he said quickly.

"Don't worry about it, I'm not offended or anything," Dan said as he walked over to Phil. He bit his lip nervously as he stared at Phil. "But wait, I don't have anything… what am I gonna about clothes and everything?" He asked nervously. "I mean… if I'm going to try to get a job… I can't exactly wear the same outfit every day. That's not going to impress anyone." Dan said. He let out a sigh.

"Don't worry. Mum went shopping and got everything you need," Phil assured him.

"She didn't have to do that. I don't want your family wasting any money on me," Dan said. He took a deep breath.

"We're not wasting any money. Seriously… you're worrying too much," Phil said. He grabbed Dan's hand and led the way into the house. "Welcome home!" Phil exclaimed. He looked over at Dan and smiled.

Dan looked up and blushed as soon as he saw the 'welcome home' banner hanging on the staircase railing.

"Come on!" Phil yelled excitedly. He grabbed Dan's hand again and led the way up the stairs.

Dan laughed as he followed Phil up the stairs. "Phil!" He called as Phil dragged him down the hallway.

"This is the guest bedroom, where you'll be staying…" Phil told Dan as they walked up to a door. Phil pushed the door open and he let Dan walk in first. He smiled as he watched Dan look around.

"Wow…" Dan whispered as he looked around. The room was big. The walls were covered in baby blue. There was even a TV with game systems. A computer desk with a laptop on it. Everything Dan would want in a room.

"Do you like it?" Phil asked as he walked into the room.

"Do I like it?" Dan asked as he looked over at Phil. "I'm in love with it…"

Phil smiled. "All of your clothes and stuff will be in the dresser," he told Dan as he pointed at the dresser.

"Everything's perfect. I love it. Thank you so much," Dan said.

"You don't have to thank me," Phil said as he walked over to Dan.

"No, I really mean it. Thank you. If it weren't for you then I would probably be dead right now," Dan said.

"I'm glad we found you, Dan. Now I've gained a best friend," Phil whispered.

Dan smiled. He wrapped his arms around Phil and hugged him tightly. "Thank you… so much."

"You're welcome." Phil whispered as he hugged Dan back, holding onto him tightly.


End file.
